(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hi all.

I thoroughly agree with ttuuxxx that 24pt icons and wider spacing in JWM second-level menus matching that of the top-level menu looks much better. I have read numerous posts on this, and have downloaded a number of files and packages that claim to produce the desired effect, but none of them seem to work in Lucid. (Or perhaps I am just going about things the wrong way.)

I gather that what is required is a modified version of xdg_puppy or jwm-xdgmenu that is compatible with Lucid 5.2.8

Does anyone know if such a thing exists and where I might find it?

I am actually surprised that this has not become the default version for the JWM Menu in Lucid.

Thanks.

I had exactly the same trouble.

I downloaded a modified version of jwm-xdgmenu-0.7.6-5.tar.gz which had been patched by ttuuxxx to support 24pt icons in the second-level Menus, but when I installed it I still just continued to get the same old 16pt icons.

Further investigation revealed that on installation the all important jwm-xdgmenu file was being installed only to /usr/local/bin/ and not to /usr/bin/. It needs to be installed in both locations.

I think if you do the following it will solve the problem:

Download tuuxxx's package jwm-xdgmenu-0.7.6-5.tar.gz from here and save it somewhere.

Go to where you have saved it and click on it. This will open the compressed archive with XArchive, and will show you a list of all the files contained within the archive.

In the list, find jwm-xdgmenu, then highlight it and extract it.

Now, you should already have your own version of this file in two places:
/usr/local/bin/jwm-xdgmenu
and
/usr/bin/jwm-xdgmenu
(These will both be the old 16pt icon version.)

So, take your newly-extracted jwm-xdgmenu file and use it to replace both of the old versions in the above locations.

Open a Terminal window and run fixmenus: Restart JWM.

You should now have 24pt icons in your submenus.

If you still continue to get 16pt icons in the Shutdown menu, just open /etc/xdg/templates/_root_.jwmrc and change the icon size (for the Shutdown menu) manually.

JWM will now automatically re-scale the old 16pt icons to 24pt. This actually tends to result in icons that look like the dog has been chewing them, so what I usually do is to replace them with icons of my own. Just choose any 24pt icons that you like, or 48pt ones and re-scale them to 24pt with Mtpaint or the Gimp, and use them to replace the original icons. Somehow they always just seem to look better in the menu if they are 24pt to start with. /root/.jwmrc will tell you which icons go with which menu entries.

Finally, if you fancy making any other improvements to the JWM Menu and you are not able to do what you want using Menu Entry Maker, have a look at the following thread:

http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic.p ... 190dd637a7

There are a couple of extra tips there.

While I have not actually tried it, I think all of the above should work in Precise and Slacko as well as Lucid.

Have fun.

Edit: TwoPuppies has repaired tuuxxx's package jwm-xdgmenu-0.7.6-5.tar.gz and converted it to a PET, so most of the above procedure is no longer required. Just click on the PET and it will convert your icons automatically. Very cool. The download for the PET can be found farther down this page.

And this is how it all looks...

Works perfectly! Thanks for your help.

By the way, I really like your desktop. Especially the icons.

That's a gorgeous desktop shot AmiMurozi And those 24px icons throughout the menus really DO go a very long ways towards giving Puppy an over-all cleaner, far more professional, "Big Boy Linux" look for sure! Now too bad our distro didn't come looking like this by default! I think it just might help change a few people's minds regarding the professionalism of Puppy as I have experienced that looks AND first impressions weigh very heavily on one's over-all opinion and reception of us.

Oh well... what would I know? I'm only a "has been" themer from very, very, many years ago. lol!

Take that screenie AmiMurozi and post it in "My Puppy is More Gorgeous Than Yours!" as well, okie? I believe many there need to see your handiwork around the globe too - and not just kept hidden away here! I'm sure you get my drift?

Cheers/Amicalement,

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge d'Acadie"

Seriously?!!
Big icons in menu = professionalism ???

Like I did say disciple:

Eyes-Only wrote:"Oh well... what would I know? I'm only a "has been" themer from very, very, many years ago. lol!"

So to me it looks "professional" like the other distros I've seen and tested in the past. However, I've been using Puppy exclusively now for the past... hmm... three years perhaps? The other distros could've changed drastically since then. I still like the look myself.

We Abinaki have a saying: "Daki ou daki se daki." Roughly translated = "To each his own."

Cheers/Amicalement,

Eyes-Only
"L'Peau-Rouge d'Acadie"

AmiMurozi wrote:I downloaded a modified version of jwm-xdgmenu-0.7.6-5.tar.gz which had been patched by ttuuxxx to support 24pt icons in the second-level Menus, but when I installed it I still just continued to get the same old 16pt icons.

I have now repaired tuuxxx's original package jwm-xdgmenu-0.7.6-5.tar.gz and converted it to a PET. Just download the PET and click on it, and it will automatically convert your JWM sub-menu icons from 16pt to 24pt.

Note: This works really well for any of the official releases of Puppy Linux up to and including Lucid and Precise. Later versions such as Slacko and TahrPup have had their default icons substantially modified. While the PET here still converts the icon size without any problems, it also causes a number of them to vanish entirely (just the icon, not the entire Menu entry). Of course, if you are intending to follow AmiMurozi's advice in her post above and substitute your own new dedicated 24pt icons, this will not be a problem. It really looks much better if you do this anyway.

here's an easy way to control the size of the icons and text in the menus and the submenus:

an easy way to get tiny or huge icons and text on the menus and submenus

should work on whatever icons you place in the menus, either manually or through packages. just a little editing of one or two html files:

Puppus Dogfellow wrote:

Code: Select all

geany /root/.jwm/jwmrc-theme

or

Code: Select all

leafpad /root/.jwm/jwmrc-theme

in a terminal and look for

<MenuStyle>
<Font>Open Sans-11</Font>
<Foreground>#000000</Foreground>
<Background>#d0d0d0</Background>
<ActiveForeground>#ffff00</ActiveForeground>
<ActiveBackground>#535353:#000000</ActiveBackground>
</MenuStyle>

The menus are forced to fit the font size--width and height will shrink or grow to fit the text you set and the icons will stretch or shrink to fit their menus.

for further control, enter

Code: Select all

geany /etc/xdg/templates/_root_.jwmrc

or

Code: Select all

leafpad /etc/xdg/templates/_root_.jwmrc

in a terminal and look for height="16" and similar in that file--usually there's another for the main menu set at 24 or so. change those settings too if you want, for example, menu and submenu titles to have different size text and icons from each other and/or their entries.

i see it's already solved another way, but i figured it may be of interest to some.

you'll need to restart jwm for the changes to show.

Puppus Dogfellow wrote: The menus are forced to fit the font size--width and height will shrink or grow to fit the text you set and the icons will stretch or shrink to fit their menus.

This changes both the text size and and the icon size in the first-level menu, but in the sub-menus it changes only the text size, not the icon size.

Puppus Dogfellow wrote: in a terminal and look for height="16" and similar in that file--usually there's another for the main menu set at 24 or so. change those settings too if you want, for example, menu and submenu titles to have different size text and icons from each other and/or their entries.

Have you actually tried this? It does not change anything for me.

TwoPuppies wrote:

Puppus Dogfellow wrote: The menus are forced to fit the font size--width and height will shrink or grow to fit the text you set and the icons will stretch or shrink to fit their menus.

This changes both the text size and and the icon size in the first-level menu, but in the sub-menus it changes only the text size, not the icon size.

Puppus Dogfellow wrote: in a terminal and look for height="16" and similar in that file--usually there's another for the main menu set at 24 or so. change those settings too if you want, for example, menu and submenu titles to have different size text and icons from each other and/or their entries.

Have you actually tried this? It does not change anything for me.

not even after restarting X? i'm not at the precise 5.7.1 machine i tried it out on at the moment, but i recall needing to restart x and the icons adjusting along with the font. i use many custom icons on the first few levels--perhaps the format is more adaptable (i think they're all .jpg).

i do recall some combination of number fiddling left me with enormous icons and tiny text--i never altered the icons themselves in any of the test runs or experiments.

you may also have to run fixmenus.